Chapter 5.08
SOLICITORS1
Sections
5.08.015 Business license required.
5.08.020 Certificate of registration – Required.
5.08.030 Certificate of registration – Application.
5.08.040 Certificate – Organizational.
5.08.050 Certificate of registration – Revocation.
5.08.060 Notice regulating soliciting.
5.08.070 Uninvited solicitors – Departure from premises required.
5.08.080 Uninvited soliciting – Prohibited – Violation a nuisance.
5.08.090 Time limit – Violation a nuisance.
5.08.010 Definitions.
(1) Use of Words and Phrases. As used in this chapter, unless the context or subject matter clearly requires otherwise, the words or phrases defined in this section shall have the indicated meanings.
(2) “Residence” means and includes every separate living unit occupied for residential purposes by one or more persons, contained within any type of building or structure.
(3) “Registered solicitor” means and includes any person who has obtained a valid certificate of registration as provided in this chapter, which certificate is in the possession of the solicitor while engaged in soliciting.
(4) “Soliciting” means and includes one or more of the following activities:
(a) Seeking to obtain orders for the purchase of goods, wares, merchandise, foodstuffs, services, of any kind, character, or description whatever, for any kind of consideration whatever; or
(b) Seeking to obtain prospective customers for application or purchase of insurance of any type, kind, or character; or
(c) Seeking to obtain subscriptions to books, magazines, periodicals, newspapers, and every other type or kind of publication; or
(d) Seeking to obtain gifts or contributions of money, clothing, or other valuable thing for the support or benefit of any charitable or nonprofit association, organization, corporation, or project. [Ord. 471 § 1, 1979.]
5.08.015 Business license required.
Each person, firm, corporation or association applying for solicitor applications shall be required to obtain a city business license. [Ord. 1494 § 1, 2010.]
5.08.020 Certificate of registration – Required.
Every person desiring to engage in soliciting, as defined in DMMC 5.08.010, from persons in residences or businesses within the city is required to make written application for and receive a certificate of registration as provided in this chapter. Such certification shall be carried by the solicitor. [Ord. 905 § 1, 1991: Ord. 471 § 2, 1979.]
5.08.030 Certificate of registration – Application.
(1) Application for a certificate of registration shall be made upon a form provided by the city. The applicant shall truthfully state in full the information requested on the application, as follows:
(a) Name and address of present place of residence and length of residence at such address; also business address if other than present address;
(b) Address of place of residence during the past three years if other than present address;
(c) Age of applicant;
(d) Physical description of the applicant;
(e) Name and address of the person, firm, or corporation or association whom the applicant is employed by or represents; and the length of time of such employment or representation;
(f) Name and address of employer during the past three years if other than the present employer;
(g) Description sufficient for identification of the subject matter of the soliciting in which the applicant will engage;
(h) Period of time for which the certificate is applied;
(i) The date, or approximate date, of the latest previous application for certificate under this chapter, if any;
(j) Whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a violation of a felony under the laws of this state or any other state or federal law of the United States;
(k) Names of magazines, journals, or books;
(l) Names of the three most recent communities where the applicant has solicited house to house;
(m) Proposed method of operation;
(n) Signature of applicant;
(o) Social Security number of applicant.
(2) All statements made by the applicant upon the application or in connection therewith shall be under oath.
(3) The city clerk shall cause to be kept in his office an accurate record of every application received and acted upon together with all other information and data pertaining thereto and all certificates of registration issued under the provisions of this chapter, and of the denial of applications. Applications for certificates shall be numbered in consecutive order as filed, and every certificate issued, and any renewal thereof, shall be identified with the duplicate number of the application upon which it was issued.
(4) No certificate of registration shall be issued to any person who has been convicted of the commission of a felony under the laws of the state or any other state or federal law of the United States within five years of the date of the application, nor to any person who has been convicted of a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, nor to any person whose certificate of registration issued under this chapter has previously been revoked as provided in this chapter. [Ord. 1542 § 1, 2012: Ord. 471 § 3, 1979.]
5.08.040 Certificate – Organizational.
Recognizing that bona fide community-based organizations engage in annual fundraising with volunteer solicitors, the city clerk is authorized to grant an organizational certificate to an appropriate official of the organization, who shall comply with the application procedure and provide the city clerk with the names and addresses of the solicitors. The organizational certificate shall be limited in time, and in no event for more than 30 days in any calendar year. Each individual solicitor shall then be issued a photocopy facsimile of the organizational certificate, which shall contain the solicitor’s name in prominent letters, and shall contain the inclusive dates of validity. [Ord. 471 § 4, 1979.]
5.08.050 Certificate of registration – Revocation.
(1) A certificate of registration issued under this chapter shall be revoked by the chief of police if the holder of the certificate is convicted of a violation of a provision of this chapter, for having made a false material statement in the application, or otherwise becomes disqualified for the issuance of a certificate of registration under the terms of this chapter. Immediately upon such revocation, written notice thereof shall be given by the chief of police to the holder of the certificate in person or by certified United States mail addressed to his or her residence address set forth in the application.
(2) Immediately upon the giving of such notice, the certificate of registration shall become null and void.
(3) The certificate of registration shall state the expiration date thereof. [Ord. 471 § 5, 1979.]
5.08.060 Notice regulating soliciting.
(1) Every person desiring to secure the protection provided by the regulations pertaining to soliciting contained in this chapter shall comply with the directions contained in subsection (2) of this section.
(2) Notice of the determination by the occupant or occupants of the refusal of invitation to solicitors to a residence, business, or development shall be given in the manner following:
(a) A weatherproof card, approximately two and one-half inches by five inches in size shall be exhibited at or near the main entrance door to the residence or business, indicating the determination by the occupants as follows: “No Solicitors Allowed.”
(b) The letters shall be at least one-third inch in height. For the purpose of uniformity, the cards shall be provided by the chief of police to persons requesting, at the cost thereof.
(c) As an alternative, in single-family or multifamily residential developments served by a readily identifiable entrance, notice may be given by posting at each entrance a sign of an appropriate size placed at a location which will give reasonable notice to any person entering the development that solicitors are not allowed, and containing language such as “no solicitors allowed.”
(d) Such card or sign so exhibited shall constitute sufficient notice to any solicitor of the determination by the occupant of the residence or business or occupants of the development of the information contained thereon. [Ord. 905 § 2, 1991: Ord. 471 § 6, 1979.]
5.08.070 Uninvited solicitors – Departure from premises required.
(1) It shall be the duty of every solicitor upon going onto any premises or development in the city upon which a residence as defined in this chapter or a business is located to determine if the notice provided for in DMMC 5.08.060 exists and to be governed by the statement contained on the notice by immediately and peacefully departing from the premises.
(2) A solicitor who has gained entrance to a residence, business, or development, whether invited or not, shall immediately and peacefully depart from the premises when requested to do so by the occupant. [Ord. 905 § 3, 1991: Ord. 471 § 7, 1979.]
5.08.080 Uninvited soliciting – Prohibited – Violation a nuisance.
It is unlawful and constitutes a nuisance for a person to go upon a premises and ring the doorbell upon or near a door, or create a sound in any other manner calculated to attract the attention of the occupant of such residence or business for the purpose of securing an audience with the occupant thereof and engage in soliciting as defined in DMMC 5.08.010, in defiance of the notice exhibited at the residence, business, or development in accordance with the provisions of DMMC 5.08.060. [Ord. 905 § 4, 1991: Ord. 471 § 8, 1979.]
5.08.090 Time limit – Violation a nuisance.
It is unlawful and constitutes a nuisance for a person, whether registered under this chapter or not, to go upon a premises and ring the doorbell upon or near a door of a residence or business located thereon, or rap or knock upon a door or create a sound in any other manner calculated to attract the attention of the occupant of such residence or business, for the purpose of securing an audience with the occupant thereof and engage in soliciting as defined in this section, prior to 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. of a weekday, or at any time on a Sunday or on a state or national holiday. [Ord. 905 § 5, 1991: Ord. 471 § 9, 1979.]
5.08.100 Violation – Penalty.
(1) No person shall violate or fail to comply with this chapter.
(2) A violation of or failure to comply with this section is a class 1 civil infraction. [Ord. 1009 § 34, 1993: Ord. 905 § 6, 1991: Ord. 471 § 10, 1979.]
Prior legislation: Ords. 63 and 454 § 1(B) (salesmen), repealed by Ord. 471.